Alfred Hickman Movies
An elegant-looking stage actor from England who had toured extensively with Sir Henry Irving, Alfred Hickman starred opposite his wife, American theater legend Nance O'Neil, in seven films for Fox from 1915 - 1917, including A Woman's Past (1915), The Iron Woman (1916) and, as the judge, Hedda Gabler (1917). Leaving Fox, the couple portrayed Nicholas II and Alexandra in the then very topical The Fall of the Romanoffs (1917) and they were reunited for the ninth and final time in the 1931 tearjerker A Woman of Experience. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide- 1931
In this dramatic adventure a shady lady becomes a spy for the Austrian intelligence agency and ends up involved with a man suspected of being a German spy. She only pretends to love him to discover the truth. The man she really loves is a young naval officer, but in order to serve her country, she must end her love affair. Later the counter-spy commits suicide to avoid detection, while at the same time, the woman is wounded. Though she only has a few months left to live, the officer marries her. His family objects because they think she has a venereal disease. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Twelvetrees, William Bakewell, (more)
- 1931
In this melodrama, a magician finds himself accused of murdering his lover's father. He flees and the lover marries her other boyfriend--the real killer. When her husband dies, the magician gets plastic surgery until he resembles the killer and assumes his former position as husband to the girl. He then begins gathering the necessary evidence to clear his name. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Gilbert, Leila Hyams, (more)
- 1930
In this entry in the Lone Wolf series, the first to have a soundtrack, the jealousies of the King and the coquettish Queen are chronicled. When His Majesty learns that his wife has given the ring he gave to her to her lover, the King plans a large ball and demands the she wear the token. As her lover is a military attache, he is not in the palace, and the queen must send her lady-in-waiting to bring it back. En route, the lady meets a thief and they team up. She does not know that he has been dispatched by the King to steal ring from the attache. The King does not know that the thief is more loyal to the queen. The thief and the lady have several adventures before obtaining the ring and returning it to the Queen. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bert Lytell, Patsy Ruth Miller, (more)
- 1929
This drama, based on a Joseph Conrad novel, follows the exploits of a British adventurer who helps hide an island prince and his sister after they are chased out of their village by rebellious natives. The adventurer then tries to help the prince reclaim his home, but he is waylaid by a wealthy English couple who have sailed their yacht into his area. Soon he and the wealthy wife are having an affair. When the angry natives forcibly board the ship, the woman runs to get the adventurer's help, but they get caught up in mutual lust and by the time they get back to the boat, they learn that the ship was blown up along with everyone on board, including the woman's husband. The guilty adventurer sends the woman away and spends his life as a hermit. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alfred Hickman
- 1924
The Enchanted Cottage stars Richard Barthelmess as Oliver, a physically and emotionally wounded World War I veteran who comes home to a fiancée who promptly leaves him. Licking his wounds in solitude, he meets a young woman named Laura (May McAvoy). They fall in love and agree to marry, but unexpected and magical events occur inside The Enchanted Cottage where they have agreed to spend their wedding night. The film was based on a 1921 play by Arthur Wing Pinero. Although no prints of this silent film are believed to exist, it was remade in 1945 with Robert Young and Dorothy McGuire. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Barthelmess, May McAvoy, (more)
- 1920
Elaine Hammerstein plays twin sisters in this drama. Leontine Maddern is a vampy vaudeville actress, while Leona, an artist and singer, is down-to-earth. Because of one of Leontine's scandals, Leona has changed her name to Rosalie Byrnes to keep from being associated with her. Rosalie is in love with Gerald Cromwell (Edward Langford), a lieutenant she met while singing at a canteen. When he is called overseas they quickly marry before he has to leave. Cromwell's sister, Eleanor (Anita Booth), is engaged to the scheming Hugo Stone (Alfred Hickman). Stone wants Cromwell to marry a millionaire's daughter so that money will come to the family, and he is determined to see him divorce Rosalie. He believes that Rosalie is Leontine and sets out to pay her to get a divorce. He happens to go to Rosalie's to make this offer when she is away and Leontine is there. Since Leontine is in financial trouble and trying to escape her latest flame, Casco Lamar, a drug addict (George Cowle), she is happy to take ten thousand dollars from him. Cromwell, meanwhile, believes that Rosalie has divorced him. Rosalie is devastated when she finds out. Not long afterwards, Leontine confesses to Rosalie that she has killed Lamar in self-defense. Rosalie heads for his apartment to retrieve her purse, and finds Cromwell there. He reveals that he knows the truth and that he has just talked to Leontine, who has admitted her part. They discover that Lamar is not dead, but merely wounded, so they quickly leave and take off on a belated honeymoon. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1920
Although Jim Carson (Fred Burton) supposedly runs Society Chatter, a scandal sheet, it is Maxwell Stone (Frank Losee) who is the publisher and real power behind the paper. There is talk of a juicy scandal going on at a posh Italian resort, and Stone goes to check it out, combining the trip with a visit to his daughter, Sylvia (Alice Brady). At the resort, Sylvia has become friends with Laura Hill (Edith Stockton), the flighty Milly Sayres (Nora Reed), and Milly's brother, Oliver Ellis (Richard Hatteras), who owns a New York morning newspaper. Sylvia also has become infatuated with Ettare Forni, a lusty tenor (Harry Mortimer). They plan to run off together, but Sylvia changes her mind when she discovers he does not plan to marry her. Stone unearths a scandalous tidbit surrounding Laura, and runs it in the paper. Laura is devastated by this and commits suicide. Sylvia returns to New York with Milly and Ellis, intent on avenging Laura's death. Carson tries to stop them by looking for dirt on Ellis. An attempt to link Milly with Forni is unsuccessful, and Carson is revealed as a blackmailer. Sylvia is shocked to discover that her father is the owner of Society Chatter, but he promises to close down the paper and reform, so she forgives him. She and Ellis wind up together. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1919
Erstwhile Susan was based on Helen R. Martin's novel Barnabetta, which previously had served as the basis for a play by Marian De Forest. Constance Binney plays the daughter of a strict Pennsylvania Dutch household. She is rescued from this atmosphere by her stepmother, who provides the girl with enough money to attend school out of state and start a new life. The film has been noted as a sociological curiosity, painting a bleak picture of Pennsylvania Dutch paternalism and offering a rare nice stepmother. Most of the villainy is in the capable hands of Anders Randolph, who during his long screen career menaced everyone from Douglas Fairbanks to Garbo to Laurel & Hardy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
This farce was originally a stage play by Augustus Thomas, and starred William Collier, Sr.. On film, another notable stage actor, John Barrymore, played the lead role of Robert Ridgway. At the time, Barrymore was primarily known for the heavy dramas in which he starred on Broadway, so his comedies took filmgoers by surprise. There's not much plot to be had here -the usual nonsense about a man in pursuit of the girl he loves, in this case Lois Meredith. Basically the flimsy story is just there to give Barrymore a chance to be funny and acrobatic. At one point, he leaps through a window and somersaults through the hood of the girl's car!. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1918
Little Miss Hoover is not the story of a female vacuum cleaner salesperson. The title is a reference to Herbert Hoover, who in the years following World War I was instrumental in teaching advanced agricultural skills to American farmers. Leading lady Marguerite Clark (who, though on the cold side of thirty, could still pass as a "Little Miss") plays a girl who is caught up in America's accelerated farm program. Breaking up the propaganda from time to time is Clark's romance with Army major Eugene O'Brien. Originally titled The Golden Bird, Little Miss Hoover was adapted from a novel by Maria Thompson Daviess. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1918
After a disastrous fling at "heavy dramatics" in Joan of Plattsburg, Mabel Normand sagaciously returned to comedy with Venus Model. Normand plays Kitty O'Brien, a low-level employee at a bathing suit factory. Despite her capricious on-the-job behavior, Kitty is handsomely rewarded when she submits a design for "The Venus Model," the company's corporate trademark. Placed in charge of the whole factory, Kitty single-handed straightens out the company's monumental financial woes during the owner's absence (a plot development which predated the similar one in Nine to Five by nearly seven decades). She also wins the heart of Paul Braddock (Rod LaRocque), the boss' son. Not surprisingly, Venus Model afforded Mabel Normand the opportunity to display her svelte figure in a wide variety of brief beachwear. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1915
Adapted by Leo Ditrichstein from an earlier German farce, Are You a Mason? served as one of John Barrymore's most popular stage vehicles. The film version likewise starred Barrymore, who breezed through the assignment with the youthful panache that would leave him all too soon. The hero, a young bridegroom, manages to get out of all sorts of scrapes by pretending to be a Mason, supremely confidant that he'll either be rescued or forgiven by his "fellow" Masons. Things get hairy when it turns out that Barrymore's new father-in-law has likewise been posing as a Mason for years, and for many of the same reasons. Hoping to make the material more "cinematic," director Thomas M. Heffron attempted at one point to stage a drunk scene from the drunk's besotted point of view. Charlie Chaplin was more successful with this gimmick in his 1916 two-reeler One AM. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
